I can tell your hesitation in asking this question, and I really want to try to make you feel better here.

Tatanka is right; during tourist season there are all types of people in the Black Hills. Most important, we have found absolutely no one to be ignorant or rude. I still have many fond memories of all the wonderful people we met here, locals and tourists alike. We met a tour guide at the Adams House whom we keep in touch with to this day, and we met up with one family for a 2nd time in our 11 day stay (by accident), and we hit it off so well we spent the rest of the day with them, including having lunch, dinner and sharing a round of mini golf with them.

The Black Hills is filled with national parks and monuments, and you really do find many types of people here. Places with the "national park" distinction attract all nationalities of people, including Asians and Europeans. They are just trying to experience what we would in their countries.

You, your husband, and daughter (I have a soon to be 11 year old also!) are going to have a fantastic time. I'm just sorry that your travel materials were such a source of concern for you. Enjoy your travels.

Besides tourists, Ellsworth Air Force Base and also the large population of Native Americans add diversity to the people of the Black Hills. I'd be surprised if you would have any difficulty with the locals.

Enjoy your vacation.

Hello MNhighlighter, In this day and age it is truely unfortunate that you even have to be worried about race relationships on your vacation. As a travel industry professional (I work at the Golden Hills Resort in Lead), I am sort of embarrassed that the promotional materials you received made you think twice. While the Black Hills area is predominantly white, and while I am sure there is a racist here and there, racial tensions in general are just aren't a factor.

Enjoy your vacation and don't give it another thought.

Please let me know where you received your promotional materials from. I'll mention your posting to the appropriate people and try to make a positive change.

BlackHillsGuide, I totally agree with you. I was sorry also that Highlighter even had to worry about this. Sometimes, I don't think marketers realize the impact their promotional materials have on the general public.

Hopefully, your suggestion will do some good and will help to alleviate any concerns.

First of all let me say thank you so much for all your replies! You've all been really helpful and I do feel a lot better. I have a lot of great memories of going to and through South Dakota as a child so want to bring that experience to my child and also to my husband who didn't get the same vacation experiences I got.

The promotional materials I received were helpful in choosing where to go, they just lacked in diversity so I suppose if it caused me pause, it would probably do the same to other families similar to mine.

BlackHillsGuide

I received materials from:

http://www.travelsd.com/request.asp

visitrapidcity.com/planyourtrip/…

deadwood.org/OfficialGuide/…

http://www.blackhillsdiscounts.com/

and the only person of any color I saw was a Native American performing a dance for the people watching (all white). I'm sure this was not intentional and I was hesitant to post this message at all I just wanted to make sure that we would have a good time so I hope I am not coming across in a bad way.

Thank you all again for being so wonderful! I am just bursting at the seams for this vacation as we sure need a break from work and what better place than the hills? =)

I had a great trip to the Black Hills a couple months ago. My son is asian, and the rest of the family is causasian. We did not get treated differently, and I didn't notice any out of the ordinary stares or 2nd glances. In fact, everyone we met was very friendly and helpful. You'll find the crowd is international and diverse particularly at Mount Rushmore - and all those tourists have to be staying somewhere!

I am uncomfortable going to places where my son is the only non-caucasian. I cancel catalogs and complain when I see pictures only of caucasians. I understand your concerns completely.

Hello again MNhighlighter, I contacted the chambers of commerce in Rapid City, Deadwood, and at the State level. All of them said "oops" and agreed that they need to ensure that ethic and cultural diversity needs to be depicted in our promotional material. These sort of changes take a long time though. At the Rapid City CVB, for instance, they just received a large shipment of some of their promotional collateral. This means that they won't be able to make changes until they order again (which could, in some cases, be a long time).

Look at it the bright way. Maybe we made a positive change.

Just as a point of interest, I went through a bunch of my own photos from years past. Places like Mt. Rushmore, Crazy Horse, etc.; places where there tend to be crowds. I'm not really seeing many people of color at all, and I find this really strange, now that it's been brought to my attention.

At Mt. Rushmore two years ago, my wife and I exchanged cameras with an Asian couple so they could have a picture of them with their camera and vice versa. We *really* appreciated that.

I stand by my original thought, though. People go to the hills to see the sights and to have fun. But maybe the brochures are fairly representative. It does make me wonder how many people are missing out on this wonderful experience due to marketing.

We were at Mt. Rushmore in late May last year. It was the day that Hillary Clinton was there campaigning for the presidential nomination. We saw many people of different races and religions. The important thing was that everyone was interested in seeing this national treasure and enjoying their vacation. Hope you have a great vacation and post your trip report on TA when you get home!!